Meet Saalumarada Thimmakka, 111-year-old environmentalist given a cabinet rank.
Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai honoured Padma Shri awardee Ms Saalumarda Thimmakka with a cabinet rank on her 111th birthday. She is also appointed an environment ambassador.
She is known for planting 385 banyan trees and 8,000 other trees over 80 years and in 2019 she was awarded the Padma Shri. She was a labourer who was born in Gubbi taluk, Tumkur and found comfort in planting trees with the support of her husband. She raises trees like her own children. Her commitment to the climate was first perceived in 1995 when she was granted the National Citizen’s Award of India. A US environmental association situated in Los Angeles and Oakland, California, called Thimmakka’s Resources for Environmental Education, is named after her.
In 2020 the Central University of Karnataka announced an honorary doctorate for her. Thimmakka’s husband died in 1991, post which she went on with her enthusiasm for saving the climate. At Dr. BR Ambedkar Bhavan in Bengaluru, she celebrated her 111th birthday and planted trees along a 45-km stretch of highway between Hulikal and Kudur.
This stretch went under danger when a venture was proposed for the broadening of Bagepalli-Halaguru street in 2019. In any case, Thimmakka requested the then CM HD Kumaraswamy and deputy CM G Parameshwara to rethink the task. After this, the public authority chose to search for choices to save Thimmakka’s trees.
The information department of the state will develop a website to exhibit her work and a web series will be produced to showcase her life and achievements. CM Bommai said the government will allocate 10 acres near her native village in Hassan.
The BDA has gifted her a 50×80 site in Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout, and the government will also build her house. The chief minister along with housing minister V Sommana, former deputy CM G Parameshwara, and BJP leader Tejaswini Anantakumar were all present at Thimmakka’s 111th birthday celebrations.
